The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

The Gormenghast trilogy are quite unlike anything else. Densely packed with rich and vivid detail, peopled with strange characters and improbable happenings, riddled through with the most diabolical of plots and touching pathos, they really are something remarkable. 'Titus Groan'. Titus is the latest arrival in a long line of Groans. The baby is born to a mother more interested in cats and a distracted father (how they came to conceive him i cannot ...
...not have the pre-requisite number of marbles. It isn't the best of starts in life. His home will be Gormenghast, a huge, rambling place. Gormenghast seems to go on forever, full of strange rooms, trees and weird inhabitants. This is Titus' inherritance and his grim fate is to be bound into its unending, emaningless rituals. However, as the unknowing Titus makes his first few squeaks through life, we get to follow the adventures of some other itneresting ...

Bryn_Pearson 04.02.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

...This story is about the comings and goings in the ruinous sprawl of stone, ivy, dust and rust that is Gormenghast - the old and decaying castle that neglects the poverty of the population outside the castle walls. For all castle inhabitants, including Lord Sepulchrave the 76th head of the blue-blooded dynasty, life is steeped in ritual. Each hour, minute and second is lived as per the rules of tradition and all must adhere, all lives which are stolen ...
...it. These characters are the young Lord Titus - the 77th inherent of the castle and young Steerpike, the kitchen slave. One pursues greatness through manipulation, scheming and murder. The other pursues escape, through single minded disobedience, lack of respect for ritual and law and a desire for the unknown wonders that must exist beyond the realm of Gormenghast. This becomes a conflict for both characters which may be likened to the lone wolf ...

TitusThunderwulf 28.05.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

...of this book or watch the BBC movie. Or... you can pick up this book anyway, and be transformed. With a little patience, the lush beauty of Mervyn Peake's words will truly touch you. The story is centered around a large, imposing dark and ancient castle in the land of Gormenghast. Inside, rules Lord Groan, his wife Gertrude, and his daughter Fuschia. They are surrounded by their many subjects, including a doctor, the doctor's sister, Fuschia's old ...
...having been listed out to the day in a huge, ancient book -- until Gertrude gives birth to the future heir of the throne, a little baby boy named Titus Groan. The news of the birth attracts the attention of a lowly kitchen boy, Steerpike. He uses the hectic, festive atmosphere surrounding the birth to escape from the confines of the kitchen, and then, having infiltrated the main part of the castle, decides to ascend to the throne of Gormenghast. ...

hallospacegirl 29.09.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

The Gormenghast trilogy is without a doubt two of the finest books in English literature. Yes, I know a trilogy implies three books, but more of that later. It is often classified as fantasy but this is a misnoma because it contains no fantastic creatures, no magic and no intelligent races other than its citizens. To refer to Gormenghast as fantastic would be a more appropriate description of its almost gothic, often surreal style. The real strength ...
...and often breathtaking set pieces. The Gormenghast books are a feast for the visual thinker, one whose mind's eye can translate text into imagery. It is worth noting that an attempt to dramatise the first two books by the BBC some years ago was a critical failure because I believe the scale and complexity of the visual themes simply defy interpretation by media other than the pure imagination of a reader. To enter the world of Gormenghast and become ...

britum2000 09.08.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

...my humble opinion, one of the greatest works of fantasy fiction - standing proud beside Stephen Donaldson and J.R.R Tolkien. These books are all masterpieces in their own right, filled with rich descriptions of the strange and macabre world in which they are set. The vast majority of the story is set within the crumbling, labyrinthine castle, Gormenghast. The place is so well described by Mervyn Peake that you can almost feel the brooding, oppressive ...
...handle on, and you get the impression that not even the author himself knows his way fully around Gormenghast, and that there are hidden alcoves and wings unknown even to him. The characters too are excellently drawn, grotesque in a Dickensian way, representing a variety of qualities, but never purely allegorical. Every character is deeply memorable, so brilliantly are they described that you can see them in front of you whenever they are mentioned, ...

Spongly 18.01.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

The adverts for the TV adaptation alone intrigued me. After watching all four of the hour-long episodes of the adaptation, I had made up my mind: I HAD to read The Gormenghast Trilogy. So a week later, there I was, curled up in my favourite armchair, cup of tea growing cold on the table beside me, absorbed in what could possibly be the best fantasy novel(s) ever written. Peakes masterpiece could rival the work of any other writer; be it Anne Rice, ...
...I loved Lord of the Rings). The further I read into this enrapturing fantasy kingdom, the more more captivated I became. Peake's desciptions were full, always he found exactly the right word to describe something causing pictures of characters and places to build up in my mind, acting out the scenes on the pages of the book as if it were real. Another of the countless number of great things about The Gormenghast Trilogy is the escapism provided ...

kdelioncourt 12.06.2002 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

...rich allegorical tale enhanced by the fact I’ve heard it read to me as an audio book. The book is read by Edmund Dehn, an actor with such a rich voice and a talent which makes listening a pleasure. The story of involves the gruesome residents of Gormenghast and the ascent to power of the machiavellian Steerpike. Each character is described in such richness, for instance Swelter the cook talks in a string of culinary references, Flay the servant ...

DiazX 22.11.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

...a masterpiece of imaginative works. The superb novel is exquisitely and eloquently written and Mervyn Peake has a talent for writing flowing, descriptive prose and realistic dialogue. A wealth of little details create the world of Gormenghast, where beautifully portrayed characters carry out the daily rituals which hold the kingdom together. When one ruthlessly ambitious kitchen hand, called Steerpike, dares to step out of his place and work his ...
...the very threads of existence in Gormenghast and slowly the great tapestry of history begins to unravel. Steerpike’s brilliantly clever ideas mean that he gradually begins to wield power among the Groans ( the royalty of Gormenghast ) without challenge. So manipulative is he, that he convinces two distracted twin Groans to burn their brother’s ( king Sepulchrave ) library for personal gain. This drives the king insane. Steerpike also manages to have ...

miss-swiss 04.11.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

When I first saw the TV series I knew the book must be something special.It is an amazingly descriptive book;quite dark in places that keeps the reader guessing right until the end.The books surreal touches help detract it from the overall gloom that readers may find overwhelming. The characters in the book are well written (especially Steerpike) and you get a disturbing feeling when you read it that only a very few characters are actually in touch ...
...one by one to the arch villain, Steerpike,who uses them to his advantage. The first two books are an intrigueing read,full of description,surreal humour and masterful writing. The third book of the trilogy is a somewhat different affair;written during Mervyn Peakes final days and pieced together,it is patchy and trippy at times and evokes some strange images. All in all a good read,and anybody with the patience to stick with it will be rewarded. ...

mrbibbly 18.02.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

This is certainly the strangest book I have ever read. I read it because it is my mothers favourite and I made her read Lord of the Rings as that is mine... It starts out ok, characters are strange but also deep. It is not a shallow read. Sometimes I felt that it was amazing and I couldn't put it down, then there were times when I felt I would cry from frustration of the 15th page of description... of a rock... or something... sometimes you can't ...
...glad I did, however I have to admit the ending made me so cross I threw the book at the wall... It didn't damage it... it's solid. Really worth reading but I would advise reading the 3 books seperately, not as one big trilogy in one... A little less daunting. ...

Sea_Slug 14.01.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

...been unlucky enough to see the television adaption of this work before reading the books, Please, do yourself a favour delete that part of your memory, the adaptation didn't even come close to capturing the delights of this modern classic. Peake's writing will lead your imagination to weave a much richer and wonderously dark world than could ever be caught on film. It draws you into a state of mind where you can feel the very timbers and stones ...

Paul_Raven 29.08.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of The Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake